Utsuro No Hako To Zero No Maria

Disclaimer Under no circumstances would you be allowed to take this work for commercial activities or for personal gain. Baka-Tsuki does not and will not condone any activities of such, including but not limited to rent, sell, print, auction. Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria 7 Artist Tetsuo Author Eiji Mikage Translator EusthEnoptEron Editors GrrArr, Quintasan Project page http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/ index.php?title=Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria PDF creation date 2015/07/29 Prologue Will this, too, become a moment that I will only be able to remember in my dreams? “Are you ready?” My opponent, O, stands before me in the apartment that Maria had once occupied. I glare at her, and my mind starts to wander. I’m confronting a beauty possessing a horrifying charm; she has long hair redolent of Maria’s, the slender arms and legs of a top model, and a delicate face with a glued-on smile. Yes… “glued-on” is just the way to put it: her smile is so perfect that it resembles that of a masterfully crafted doll. It’s an uncanny smile that arouses a primal fear. Until now, O’s face kept slipping my memory when I woke up. This will stop now. O no longer remains the mysterious being she once was, because I learned that she was created via Maria’s box, the Flawed Bliss. If Maria’s box is the cause of my amnesia, then I should be able to withstand it with the aid of my Empty Box. Yes! Focus on her, Kazuki! —O (Aya Otonashi) She is your enemy. “─────────────────────────────” It’s all right. 9 Prologue My thoughts are back to normal now that I’ve affirmed that she’s my enemy. I smell scented oil everywhere. The fragrance of peppermint serves as a powerful reminder of my goals. —I will bring Maria back. —I will make her a part of my everyday life. —I will meet the Zeroth Maria, the girl who was still ignorant of boxes. I will go to any length for the sake of my goals. I’ve already sacrificed one of my friends. If I had to kill every single human being on this planet, I would do so without a second thought. Quite literally. I’m dead serious. I take a deep breath and glare at O. “Are you ready?” she asks with an uncanny and alltoo-perfect smile. “To say goodbye to this world?” I scrunch up my face as tightly as possible. “Why would I want to do that?” It’s an undeniable truth that boxes have wreaked havoc upon my most valuable treasure, my everyday life. Yuuri Yanagi will continue to suffer from the guilt of committing murder. Iroha Shindou’s personality and the false miracle she believed in were both crushed. Koudai Kamiuchi was killed. Ryuu Miyazaki killed his parents and was thrown in jail. 10 Prologue Riko Asami has gone missing. Kasumi Mogi will never walk on her own two feet again. Kokone Kirino was physically and mentally damaged until she broke down. Haruaki Usui lost all of his friends, myself included. Daiya Oomine is not likely to return. And even I, Kazuki Hoshino— I look at my right hand—at my glaring, self-inflicted wound. This wound reminds me that I’m a sinner and a lunatic who is long past the point of no return. “But—” I mutter to myself as I clench my right fist. A burst of seemingly endless energy wells up from deep within. Right! I won’t give up on my idea of a perfect world, no matter how hopeless my situation looks. “When we last met, you lost,” O taunts me without hesitation. I muster up as much scorn as I can while staring at her, but she doesn’t seem to care one bit. “You seek to make Maria Otonashi voluntarily give up her box, correct?” she continues. “However, you should be well aware that your own deeds have ruled out the possibility of that ever happening.” I bite my lips. She’s right. 11 Prologue “In order to defeat Daiya Oomine, you chose to sacrifice Kokone Kirino befo